past thirty years has carried 0 11 the Work established 111
America by Dr. Randolph. Mr. L ew is’s words imply however, that this Work was m erely taken up by me— more or less casually and then irregularly carried on. Let it be known as here affirmed: that the W ork as done by me was begun and has been carried forward with con tinuity, in orderly procedure and in strict accordance w ith ancient Rosicrucian usage.
Freeman B. Dowd was selected by Dr. Randolph as his successor before either Mr. Lewis or I were born. In the early ’9 0 ’s I enrolled under Mr. Dowd. A s before stated, Dr. James R. Phelps, of Boston, was selected as m y guide and instructor.* I continued under Dr. P h elp ’s
direction and instruction until called to B oston in 1902, at which time I first met Dr. Brown, who w as later to b e come Grand Master of the Fraternity. I t w as a t th is time that I received m y final degree and was g iv en m y “ freedom ” or “ w a g es.” It was then I commenced m y labors and have continued active ever since. The W ork has been carried on through the proper succession of Grand Masters as has been the usage since A ndrea founded the Fraternity.
2 The writer is the “ successor” to Dr. Randolph only in such manner as one Grand Master follow s in the fo o t steps of another and as handed down to him, b y selection, in orderly succession, with such authority and W ork as has been carried on by each Grand M aster since the be ginning of the Fraternity.
31 have neither ‘ ‘ inherited ’ ’ nor ‘ ‘ acquired ’ ’ the “ A uthority” which had been conferred upon Dr. R an dolph. I earned it by right of attainm ent. This author ity was conferred upon me by right of succession, ju st as, and by the same method Dr. Randolph and prior Grand Masters received it, who were the rig h tfu l successors of the original Grand Master.
1 This accusation has been made again st us by Mr. Lewis from the time when he organized h is spurious Rosicrucian Order and now the elem ent of com edy en ters: In the April, 1916, number of The Am erican Rosae Orucis, page 13, paragraph 8, Mr. Lew is says:
“Dr. C lym er o p e ra te s th e P h ilo s o p h ic a l P u b lis h in g C om p an y of A llentow n, P a., a n d s e lls r e p r in t s of so m e so -called ‘R o sic ru c ia n b o o k s’ w r itte n b y on e D r. P . B. R a n d o lp h , who n e v e r h a d e ith e r th e r i g h t o r p riv ile g e of w r itin g fo r p u b lic a tio n a n y R o s ic ru c ia n s e c r e ts .”
From this it is clear that Mr. L e w is’s present accusa tions are no more than repetition of form er m isrepresen tations. Even the casually interested reader, “ the man in the street,” can prove for him self that I did not pub lish or re-publish a single one of R andolph’s books except his History (1918— alm ost three years after the above was written by Mr. L ew is), until more than ten years later, i. e., 1926.
and whole falsehoods, all more or less proclaiming that I am m erely a publisher of books and therefore cannot be either a Rosicrucian or an authority on the subject, Mr.
Lew is proceeds 0 11 page 14 of the same number:
“F ir s t— th e tr u e O rd er— th e o rig in a l an d p e rf e c t R osaecru- c ia n O rd e r is k n o w n b y only one n a m e — ‘T h e A n c ie n t an d M y stical O rd er R o sae C ru c is’. S eco n d ly —its w orld-w ide, e s ta b lis h e d sym bol is th e tria n g le w ith p o in t dow nw ard
an d w ith th e c ro ss w ith in th e tria n g le . T h ird ly —
it
se llsno books or degrees, by m ail o r o th e rw ise , p u rp o rtin g to
c o n ta in s e c r e ts o r in itia tio n s .”
A nd so the one and only name is: “ Ancient and M ystical Order Rosae Crucis?” Note that it is not the Rosicrucian Brotherhood as now so w idely advertised and claimed by Mr. Lewis, but sim ply and only the Order of Rosae Crucis. W hy the change? When did he legally change it? W hy does he now, despite the above positive statement, advertise his clandestine organization as the Original Rosicrucian Brotherhood instead of, the “ only one n am e”-—The Ancient and M ystical Order Rosae Crucis?
Please note the equally positive statement “ it sells
110 books ’ ’ and then recall all that Mr. Lewis has written
from time to time regarding those who write, publish, or write and publish books on the subject; finally, refer to any of his late publications such as The Rosicrucian D igest and turn to the last cover page to find there displayed in colors what is described as a Rosicrucian Library of some ten volumes, some written by Mr. Lewis, some purporting to be written by him, and all published
and sold by his Amorc concern. A lso bear in mind
that the book w ith which we are dealing and from which we quote is written by this same Mr. Lewis and is sold and published by Amorc, his clandestine Rosicrucian organization. It will likewise be news to the many who have gone to California and there received and paid $25.00 for a degree, that the Amorc sells no degrees, by mail or otherwise, “ purporting to contain secrets of in itia tio n s.” W hat, then, does his initiation at $25.00' per degree in California and written lessons by mail at $2.00 per month purport to convey to the candidate? It would appear to the casual reader that Mr. Lewis dug a grave for us and then blindly stumbled into it himself.
J Mr. Lewis, I challenge you to produce specific in stances of condemnation of these books by any Rosicru- cian or other assembly— outside of Amorc— or stand con victed of inexcusable invention—inexcusable, because you know or should know that physicians of all schools, as well as countless fathers and mothers, use these books as texts and we have yet to receive a word of criticism from any one relative to the contents of these books. W e contend that the statem ents made by Mr. Lew is are manufactured out of the whole cloth and defy him to prove to the contrary.
0 W hat has been said above5 applies here. W e m ake no exceptions, save as to the membership of his spurious organization. You, Mr. Lewis, have here made accusa tions which no innocent self-respecting person can allow to pass unchallenged, since silence m ight be considered a tacit admission of the truth of your allegations.
7 My publishing business has been carried on under the name of a purely business concern. This is in strict accordance with the practices of the Fraternity since its foundation. A study of the literature of the time in which Andrea was active and much later w ill show that all letters addressed directly to the Fraternity were re turned as undeliverable. A ll inquiries, beginning w ith the foundation of the Fraternity in 1614 up to the pres ent century, had to be addressed indirectly. T hey were then placed in the hands of the proper individual who took up the problem with the applicant or aspirant after which letters m ight be addressed so as to reach the F ra ternity more directly. U ntil it became necessary for me .to declare the truth, in order to refute Mr. L ew is’s w id e ly published fabrications and false claims, I adhered faithfully to the said ancient and strict Rosicrucian prac tice.
81 never have, since the establishm ent of my W ork,